Top College Golfer Injured In Car Crash Hours After Winning Tournament

The South Carolina men’s golf team was involved in an accident on Sunday as the team van was driving home from a tournament. 

The Gamecocks’ top player, Nathan Franks, who ranks as the 210th-best amateur golfer in the world suffered a broken elbow in the three-vehicle crash just hours after he claimed his second individual win of the season at the Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia.

According to reports, the team van t-boned a car that ran a red light on Highway 25 in Waynesboro.

Gamecocks assistant coach Brady Gregor, who was driving, managed to swerve right to avoid a direct collision before skidding into a truck, which Gregor says stopped the van from falling into a deep ditch. A police report determined that Gregor was not at fault.

“It’s like she didn’t even see us, didn’t see the light that was red, definitely didn’t try to stop because she just gunned it, trying to speed up to get through that intersection,” Gregor told NBC Sports. 

“I hit the brakes but there were no skid marks ... I turned hard enough that we hit her at a 45-degree angle and rode connected [with her car] all the way into the truck, and when we hit the truck, we came to a stop while it shot her car into a spin and back into the intersection. She tried to take off, but her car shut down.”

Franks, a junior from Roebuck, South Carolina, was later diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right elbow and is now wearing a sling. 

While he avoided surgery and a cast, Franks will miss at least the team’s final two regular-season events and is a doubt for the upcoming SEC Championship in April 24 with NCAA regionals approaching in May.

“I feel terrible for Nate because he’s the kind of guy that I could call him right now and ask if he wanted to play through it, and he’d say yes,” Gregor said. 

Aside from whiplash and a few bumps and bruises, there were no major injuries to the other players or coaches in the van. 

The Gamecocks are currently ranked No.58 in the country, with Franks (No.92) the team's top-ranked individual player.